HANDICAPS 105 



year-old Peter, with 9 st. 3 lbs. on his back, stopped 

 to kick and was left far behind after the field had gone 

 some way. That Archer should have persuaded him 

 to gallop, and that he should subsequently have won 

 with his heavy weight, assuredly stamps him as a 

 remarkable animal. Such an event is unprecedented 

 under the circumstances. The distance is only a mile ; 

 to be accurate, it is short of that measurement by 

 74 yards ; considering the speed at which horses 

 gallop, and that the pace is always good in this race, 

 it will be readily understood how very little time there 

 is to lose on the journey. Morion, three years old, 

 7 St. 9 lbs., showed what a good horse he was by 

 winning in 1890. No animal of his age had success- 

 fully carried so heavy a weight before, though his 

 record was broken two years later when Suspender, 

 also three years old, won with 7 st. 10 lbs. in a field 

 of twenty-five. Suspender was never beaten, and 

 there is no saying how good he may have been ; 

 unfortunately it could never be ascertained in public, 

 for he fell one of the many victims of the hard ground 

 at Ascot, and was never able to run again after his 

 victory in the Hunt Cup. That good miler, Victor 

 Wild, gained one of his many victories here in 1894, 

 and notwithstanding that he did not win in 1896, he 

 ran an extraordinarily good race, being only just 

 beaten by Knight of the Thistle, a four-year-old who 

 had proved himself to be something more than useful, 

 and who was in receipt of no less than 2 st. 7 lbs. from 



